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Russia has lost a quarter of the combat power it sent to Ukraine at the beginning of the invasion, British intelligence has found.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence said it could take years before many of the groups are fit for action again.
Tens of thousands of Russian troops are estimated to have been killed during the first nine weeks of war but Moscow has not given a figure. The Ukrainian military has also kept its death toll secret.
“At the start of the conflict, Russia committed over 120 battalion tactical groups, approximately 65 per cent of its entire ground combat strength,” the MoD said.
“It is likely that more than a quarter of these units have now been rendered combat-ineffective.
“Some of Russia’s most elite units, including the VDV Airborne Forces, have suffered the highest levels of attrition. It will probably take years for Russia to reconstitute these forces.”
Since President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine on February 24, more than 5.5 million Ukrainians have fled abroad to escape the violence, UN figures show.
Data collected since February 28 shows 1.3 million Ukrainian have entered their homeland. A large number of these are believed to be Ukrainians who were living abroad and returned home either to fight or assist in the war effort in some way.
Mariupol has come under some of the worst Russian bombardments and much of the city has been reduced to rubble.
More than 100 civilians who had been forced to live underground for weeks escaped the city at the weekend are were expected to reach Ukrainian-controlled Zaporizhzhia on Monday.
They were the first to be evacuated from the vast Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, where some injured fighters and civilians remain.
The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross began an operation co-ordinated with Ukraine and Russia on April 29 to help bring out women, children and the elderly from the steel works to safety.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted that about 100 civilians would arrive in Zaporizhzhia in south-eastern Ukraine on Monday.
"For the first time, we had two days of a ceasefire on this territory, and we managed to take out more than 100 civilians — women, children," he said.
Some also arrived in Zaporizhzhia on Monday morning after travelling from Mariupol or elsewhere independently of the UN/Red Cross operation.
One woman arrived in a funeral van. She said she had left Mariupol some time ago and had been hiding in a basement in a nearby village.
Pressure is mounting on the EU to arrange and all-out ban on imports of Russian oil.
Poland’s climate minister on Monday demanded a clear cut-off date and said she hoped an embargo could be ushered in before the end of the year.
"We want this package [of sanctions] to include a very specific and clear date and requirement for all countries ... that it should be a complete package without any gaps,” Anna Moskwa said.
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A woman rescues some of her belongings from her house in Irpin, near Kyiv, which was nearly completely destroyed by Russian bombing in late March. AP -
A driver helps a woman board a bus at a reception centre for displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. AP -
People fleeing Mariupol's Azovstal plant arrive on buses at a registration and processing area for internally displaced people in Zaporizhzhia. AFP -
A woman stands next to her home in Irpin, near Kyiv, after it was nearly completely destroyed by Russian bombing. AP -
People hold banners and shout slogans during a demonstration in support of Mariupol defenders in Kyiv, Ukraine. Getty Images -
A woman stands near her house that was destroyed by shelling in Sloboda, Chernihiv region, Ukraine. Reuters -
A mother and child in Lviv, Ukraine, wait to board transport destined for Przemysl, Poland. Getty Images -
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy claps as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson addresses the Ukrainian Parliament in Kyiv via videolink. Reuters -
Firefighters work to extinguish flames after a Russian bombardment at a park in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP Photo -
The television tower is illuminated in the national colors of the Ukrainian flag to show solidarity with the country at the Olympic Park in Munich, southern Germany. AFP -
Flooded gardens and fields are shown in Demydiv, Ukraine. To keep Russian armoured columns at bay, Ukrainian forces released water from a nearby hydroelectric dam to intentionally flood Demydiv, a village north of Kyiv. The decision was effective, but efforts to drain the area are complicated. Getty Images -
A damaged Orthodox icon is seen in the corner of local resident Yurii's heavily damaged house in Fenevychi, Ukraine. Getty Images -
Valentyna, 71, stands by her cat, who was injured in the fighting, in Fenevychi. Getty Images -
Yurii, 53, stands in his heavily damaged house in Fenevychi. Getty Images -
Evacuees from the eastern Ukraine city of Lyman, which has suffered heavy shelling, ride on a bus in Raihorodok. AFP -
A man delivers loaves of bread to a woman in the eastern Ukraine city of Lyman. AFP -
Nazar, right, boards a bulletproof bus to evacuate with his family from the eastern Ukraine city of Lyman. AFP -
A dog chases a hare by the wall of a burnt house in Fenevychi. Getty Images -
Nine-year-old Galina, right, and Nazar, 8, arrive with their families in Raihorodok. AFP -
Natalia Pototska, 43, cries as her grandson Matviy looks on in Zaporizhzhia. AP -
Hryhorii, a member of the Ukrainian military meets his wife Oksana, who fled from the Russian-occupied Novomykhailivka village, at the evacuation point in Zaporizhzhia. EPA -
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomes Denmark's Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeppe Kofod to Kyiv. Reuters -
Buildings destroyed by Russian shelling in Borodianka, in Ukraine's Kyiv region. Reuters -
Volunteers carry an elderly woman in a blanket during the evacuation of a frontline village retaken by Ukrainian forces in Kharkiv. Reuters -
A Ukrainian man walks past the turret of a Russian tank next to a destroyed petrol station in the village of Skybyn, north-east of Kyiv. AFP -
Andrii Fedorov hugs his son Makar as they are reunited in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, after the boy and his mother fled besieged Mariupol. AP -
Volunteers at the Help Ukraine Center in Lublin, south-eastern Poland. More than 3 million Ukrainian refugees are now in Poland. EPA -
Police officers deliver loaves of bread to residents in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lyman, which is being heavily shelled. AFP -
Savelii, 10, mourns at the grave of his father, who died protecting his city as a member of the Territorial Defence, in Irpin, Ukraine. EPA -
Ukrainian soliders ride on a truck to a resting place after fighting in the front line for two months near Kramatorsk. AFP -
A shopkeeper clears shelves before closing up in Sviatohirsk, eastern Ukraine, amid the Russian invasion. AFP -
Civilians who left the area near Azovstal steel plant as part of an evacuation of Mariupol arrive at temporary accommodation in Bezimenne, Donetsk region. Reuters -
Azovstal steel plant employee Valeria, who was part of an evacuation of Mariupol, hugs her son Matvey, who had earlier left the city with his relatives, as they meet again in Bezimenne, Donetsk. Reuters -
A pro-Russian troop stands guard in Bezimenne, Donetsk. Reuters -
A picture taken during a visit to Mariupol organised by the Russian military shows Russian serviceman on patrol outside the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in Enerhodar, south-eastern Ukraine. EPA -
A woman is assisted during the UN-led evacuation of the Azovstal steel plant, after nearly two months of siege warfare on Mariupol by Russia. Reuters -
Civilians gather for humanitarian aid, distributed by the Donetsk People Republic Emergency Situations Ministry in Berdyansk, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People's Republic, eastern Ukraine. AP -
Ukrainian servicemen are seen near a T-80 tank captured from Russian troops in Kharkiv region. Reuters -
A Ukrainian soldier takes a break from the conflict and tries to pet a stork in Barvinkove, Kharkiv region. Reuters -
A satellite image shows damage at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, Ukraine. AP
Germany has said it will not stand in the way of an oil ban.
Hungary and Slovakia may be given exemption from an embargo, two EU officials said on Monday, given how dependent the two member states are on Russia crude.
The European Commission is on Tuesday expected to finalise work on the sixth package of EU sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine, which would include a ban on buying Russian oil, exports of which are a chief source of Moscow's revenue.
